Get your A Church Near You page ready for Christmas

A Church Near You has received more than 50 million page views already this year and 81 per cent of people who have visited were on the site are first-time visitors. This offers a huge evangelism opportunity for local churches.

We’re thrilled that there are now more than 19,000 church editors. Have you claimed your A Church Near You page yet? If not, follow the simple instructions here.

Add your events

There are already thousands of Christmas events and services added to A Church Near You. Have you added yours? Millions of people will use the site this December. Help them to find you by using the tags! Make sure you tag your services with 'Comfort and Joy', as well as 'Christmas’, ‘Advent’ and ‘Christmas carols’ or any of the other related tags as appropriate. This will ensure that visitors will find the kind of services and event's they are looking for. Watch this video to show you how to tag events and services.

Remember, if you're offering online services, use the tags to promote this, such as 'live stream' or 'prerecorded service'. If you're streaming your live service through YouTube, visitors will be able to watch this on A Church Near You. Remember to add the URL once you have scheduled your live service when adding the service to ACNY.

Last Christmas, the vast majority of editors who added their Christmas services and events to the site did so in under an hour – more than 90 per cent, and 23 per cent of those who added their services to ACNY saw more people attend their Christmas services last year.

Log in and add your Advent and Christmas services and events now.

Customisable videos

Our video generator tool, available exclusively to A Church Near You editors through the Resource Hub, allows you to add your own text to a Comfort and Joy video. You can use this on your ACNY page, social media accounts and even for church screens!

All you need to do is visit the video generator tool, fill in the simple form with the title and a subtitle that encourages and welcomes visitors into your church this Advent and Christmas, and then hit the 'Download video' box. In a few minutes, your video is ready to share! Remember to use the hashtag #ComfortAndJoy if you're sharing these films on social media. We'd love to see your personalised videos!

As we approach Christmas, more videos will be added for you to edit, so do check back over the coming weeks! Currently, you can generate your customised video now to encourage online giving.

Generate your video now.

Create social media graphics

Try our brand new social media generator tool, which allows you to create Comfort and Joy graphics for your church's Facebook, Twitter or Instagram accounts in seconds. Choose what text you would like on these graphics. You could encourage people to attend your Advent or Christmas services, watch online events or find out more about how your church is celebrating this very different Christmas.

Generate your social media graphics now.

Page branding

If you haven't already done so, switch on the Comfort and Joy branding on your ACNY page today. Find out how to do that here.

It's great to see thousands of churches already using this, like Trinity Church, Lyon. Have a look at how the branding looks on their page here.

Free resources

The Hub is a one-stop shop for free images, videos and Church of England logos and resources. For Christmas, we have updated the Hub with Advent, Christmas and Comfort and Joy related assets. Visit the Hub now to download.

On the Resource Hub, you will be able to download:

Advent, Christmas and Epiphany hymns and contemporary music.
Christmas stock images for social media, A Church Near You and printed resources.
Orders of Service for Advent and Christmas services.
Create personalised videos.
Personalise social media graphics for Advent and Christmas.
Download hymns for online services.

Visit the Hub and download free resources now.